Should the state mandate alarms for child care center vehicles that carry children?

There are some jobs that humans will always do better than machines. Taking care of children tops the list.
Palm Beach County Commissioners should consider that today before approving an ordinance that would make the county the first in the state to mandate safety alarms in child care center vehicles. The measure, for vehicles that transport six or more children, will do little more than provide a false sense of security.

In April, a Palm Beach County school bus driver and an aide left a 5-year-old boy on a bus for two hours.
The bus was equipped with an alarm. The device is supposed to force a human to walk to the back of the bus to turn it off, checking for children along the way. As this incident shows, technology can’t substitute for common sense. Drivers should make sure that all the children they pick up are dropped off safely.
Unfortunately, sense isn’t common. Even when there are rules in place and laws on the books.

That was the case with Haile Brockington, the two year old who died last summer after a van driver left her in a sweltering vehicle for nearly six hours.

State Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach filed a bill this year that would have required alarms in day care vehicles statewide in response to Haile’s death. The measure passed in the Senate and failed in the House. Sen. Sachs, who supports the county measure, said she plans to refile the legislation. “Rather than just saying Palm Beach County kids are safe, I feel an obligation towards kids in Pensacola and Glades County and Monroe County to make sure they have the same protection that little children are going to have here,” she said. “This is just first base. We’re going all the way.”

There is no guarantee, however, that children in any county are going to be protected.